Lovely Weather

Halfway into April and the weather is more like spring every day.  The hillside has a slight tinge of green and the sheep are straining against the barnyard fence.  Can't let them out until the grass is up a few inches.  They would tear up the tender shoots and turn the hill into mud.  I have two more weeks worth of hay.  I have a couple of local places to try, thanks to a good hay year and people who put some away to sell to people like me who run out.  It's tee-shirt weather in the barn.  Flies are buzzing and I have two ducks sitting on eggs.  The mud/poop in the barn has thawed making chore time very slippery.  Would love to spend a couple of hours shovelling and sweeping every day but I'm very busy getting ready for Maryland Sheep and Wool in two shorts weeks.  Maryland waits for no shepherd.  I love this show and this year both AJ and Mia are coming to help me, along with Kimmie Cornerstone, my faithful fiber art sidekick.   I'm hoping Annie and Hannah can make it, too.  With Boy Scout activities, shooting camp, a cruise I hear they are taking, and Hannah's school, I'm wondering if they can make the trip.   It's so much fun to work all day, then party down at night at the campsite.  I am "off" for spring break which is a bit of a joke but truly a blessing.  I'll derive vicarious pleasure from others taking vacations to the tropics.  My house is covered with fabric, wool, and giant blocks of soap waiting to be cut up and set out to cure.  I love being home to work on product.  The doggies hang on to my every movement until about ten o'clock when they collapse on the sofas.  They are used to me being at school every day and sleeping their time away.  I'm very happy with the way my Bundaflicka Knitting Totes are looking.  I have to bang more nails into the rafters to hang the new bags and bags in progress on.  The ceiling is the only safe place to store them.  I love to sew, and am running my little machine every chance I get, between chores and critter cuddling.  I'm making some familiar totes which are good for people who come by looking for that tote that they wish they bought last year.  I still keep that woman in mind who so wanted a horsey tote, and went to find her husband in the crowd at the Fingerlakes Fiber Festival four years back.  He wouldn't buy it for her and she was sick about it.  With him there I couldn't say here, take it, and send me the money when you can.  A year later she came back to get the tote with the cash in hand.  It was long gone and I didn't have an inch of that fabric left.   That's life.  I'm eating my heart out while looking at pictures of all the lambs and goat kids people are posting.  This is the first year without babies in a dozen for me.  Am hoping to pick up a Wensleydale ram from Ann Meriwether in May.  My plan is to have fewer sheep with more wool.
We'll see how that goes.  I picked a good winter to take off, with many 20 below nights and me at work every day.  I was blessed with a rather healthy winter in spite of the harsh weather.  Not a single cold or tummy flu, just a bit of wackiness with my heart and a ski-knee that is bedeviling me now.  I am paying for all that fun I had tearing down mountains as a young woman.  I don't know what a doctor could do for me and don't trust surgery.  I think I need to do more yoga and reduce the weight on the knee.  The former is much easier than the latter.  Time to feed the piggies, who are so big they are pretty much running the place now.  I can't even think about taking them to visit Miss Tammy until after Md. Sheep and Wool.   Yeah, right, me and what Army?   I have to buy a freezer anyway.  Good excuse for putting off the inevitable...for now

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